1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a game that involves directing an object at a moving target and particularly to a game in which a moving object is guided along a predetermined path that is alternately blocked and opened by a moving barrier.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Representative examples of games in which rolling balls or other moving game pieces are directed at moving targets, pockets or entryways are provided in U.S. Pat. No. 1,481,786 issued Jan. 29, 1924 to G. T. Barber, U.S. Pat. No. 1,538,449 issued May 19, 1925 to F. Schulz, and U.S. Pat. Nos. 1,567,251 and 1,656,272 issued Dec. 29, 1925 and Jan. 17, 1928, respectively, to J. Ekstein.
The U.S. Pat. No. 1,481,786 to Barber shows a game having upwardly inclined parallel alleys that are substantially tangent to the upper surface of a drum rotating about a horizontal axis. The alleys are interrupted by an arcuate portion of the drum, which has a number of spaced holes at axially spaced locations aligned with the center of each alley. The object of the game is to roll a ball up one of the inclined alleys so that it arrives at the top coincidentally with a corresponding hole in the drum. If its velocity is not too great, the ball will then drop through the hole into the drum and return to the player via a discharge chute and return alley. If the player misses one of the holes in the drum or the velocity is too great, the ball continues in its path over the top of the drum to the end of the alley, where it drops into a vertical chute connecting with the return alley.
In the game apparatus of Schulz U.S. Pat. No. 1,538,449 a ball is rolled down an inclined board having side rails that converge to a discharge passageway. A horizontal disk is mounted for rotation about a vertical axis, the edge of the disk being adjacent to the discharge passageway. The disk has spaced openings cut out of its edge, and the object of the game is to drop the ball through one of these openings when the opening is aligned with the discharge passageway from the board. The ball will then drop through a vertical chute and strike a trigger to actuate a mechanism for delivering a prize to the player. If the ball passes through the discharge passageway when a disk opening is not so aligned or at too great a velocity, the ball will pass radially across the disk into a central well.
In the earlier Ekstein U.S. Pat. No. 1,567,251, a motor-driven vertical shaft carries a spider that supports radial channels for rotation past the end of a chute. The object of the game is to roll a ball down the chute so that it arrives at the end coincidentally with one of the radial channels. If the player is successful, the ball will enter the radial channel and be deposited in a center cup; otherwise the ball will strike a baffle and be deflected into a return chute leading to a receptacle for returned balls. In an alternative embodiment, the successful shot passes from the radial channel into a vertical tube leading downward from the inner end of the channel and thence through an arcuate slot in a support base for the rotating structure to another chute leading to the receptacle for returned balls.
The second Ekstein U.S. Pat. No. 1,656,272 discloses improvements to the earlier game apparatus. These improvements include substitution of closed pockets for the radial channels and provision for oscillatory vertical motion of the outer ends of the pocket structures superimposed on their horizontal rotation. In an alternative embodiment, a vertical disk is mounted for rotation on a horizontal shaft, with the plane of the disk parallel to the direction of a discharge chute. A number of angularly spaced pockets are mounted on the disk for successive alignment with the end of the chute as the disk rotates.
In the foregoing prior art games the moving ball changes either speed or direction as the result of a successful encounter with a moving entryway or pocket. In some of them, such as the Schulz and Barber games, successful interception requires not only proper timing but also that ball velocity be below some maximum value. In none of them is the size of the entry or pocket adjustable to adapt the game to players having varying degrees of skill.